From my article in The Sunday Times today:
“Robert Abela is a bit like the child who knows how to ingratiate himself with irate parents who have just punished their elder sibling. He flutters his lashes and rolls his doe eyes, projecting virginal innocence and making an unseemly effort to appear entirely different from his muddy predecessor.
“Wanting to look different is acknowledging that Muscat is no role model. The Europeans are impressed by the rhetoric of making a clean break with Muscat, of turning pages and leaving behind the pillars of salt that were once the Labour Party politicians who ruled over Gomorrah.
“The Europeans are impressed with the words. They are less amazed by the actual results. There aren’t any.”